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PULLMAN, WA - Thursday morning, a group of volunteers on the Palouse celebrated Arbor Day a little early by planting hundreds of trees along a riverbank in Pullman.

Typically, Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday of April.

"Pop them in the ground and bury them up so they can retain some moisture," said man.

But this year, the Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute decided to celebrate a day early by inviting community members and college students to plant trees in Pullman.

"Today we are shoring up the little creek here," said WSU student Riley Waugh. "We're planting trees up and down the bank."

The event was part of the city's Stream Restoration Project.

"It fluctuates a lot, we get a lot of erosion," said Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute Implementation Coordinator Randy Stevens. "And so these trees really help to stabilize the bank and keep the erosion down."

Volunteers planted about 200 trees in the south fork of the Palouse River."

"It's going to be great if I can come back here in a number of years and see that the little shrubs that I've planted have grown a little bit," said Waugh.

In addition to protecting the nearby park from erosion, planting the trees gave both Washington State University and University of Idaho students a chance to give back in a unique way.

"It's a little dirty but it's fun," said WSU student Brice Whitehurst. "I mean, we're helping the river and helping the community out so it feels good."

"It's a blast," said U of I student Taylor Andersen. "I don't think that any of us have ever done it before, but it's fun."

The city of Moscow will hold their Arbor Day Ceremony Friday morning at 11:30 in Friendship Square.